Maize, Zea mays L., is one of the major crops grown worldwide as a primary source for animal feed, human food and industrial purposes. Maize plants with improved agronomic traits and maize seed with improved quality traits are desirable for the farmer, processor and consumer of maize and maize derived products. The ability to breed or develop transgenic plants with improved traits depends in part on identification of genes or QTLs associated with a trait. The unique maize sequences disclosed herein are useful as mapping tools to assist in plant breeding, in gene and QTL discovery, as markers in marker trait association and molecular breeding.
Polymorphisms are useful as genetic markers for genotyping applications in the agriculture field, e.g., in plant genetic studies and commercial breeding. See for instance U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,385,835; 5,492,547 and 5,981,832, the disclosures of all of which are incorporated herein by reference. The highly conserved nature of DNA combined with the rare occurrences of stable polymorphisms provide genetic markers that are both predictable and discerning of different genotypes. Among the classes of existing genetic markers are a variety of polymorphisms indicating genetic variation including restriction-fragment-length polymorphisms (RFLPs), amplified fragment-length polymorphisms (AFLPs), simple sequence repeats (SSRs), single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and insertion/deletion polymorphisms (Indels). Because the number of genetic markers for a plant species is limited, the discovery of additional genetic markers associated with a trait will facilitate genotyping applications including marker-trait association studies, gene mapping, gene discovery, marker-assisted selection, and marker-assisted breeding. Evolving technologies make certain genetic markers more amenable for rapid, large scale use. For instance, technologies for SNP detection indicate that SNPs may be preferred genetic markers.